This Week’s Harvest
Scarlet turnips
Hakurei salad turnips
Beets (golden, chiogga, or red)
Onions (candy and red)
Garlic
Tomatoes
Celery
Kohlrabi
Leaf head lettuce
Fruit Share
Golden delicious and Jonathan apples from Downing Fruit Farm.
Farm notes:
School is in session, the golden rod is in full bloom, the field corn and soybeans are drying, nights are down right chilly, and now our winter squash and pumpkin harvest is in the barn. Although just shy of it being official, it sure does seem like fall.
The squash harvest took 3 wagon loads and used up all of our harvest crates. We have around a ton total of butternuts, hubbards and pie pumpkins! This year we planted Hubbard squash, an incredibly large bluish green squash, as a trap crop. University extension specialists have been studying insect preferences to help control pests. It turns out that cucumber beetles prefer Hubbard seedlings, so you can plant them along side your other cucurbits in hopes that the pest will just destroy the hubbards and not the crops you are wanting to harvest. We definitely noticed a preference and do think this helped. Plus, the hubbards survived the bug damage so we got the added bonus of another winter squash variety to add to our list of what we grow. Now the squash need to cure in the barn and really develop their sweetness. Look for them in the final boxes of the season, and in the meantime, enjoy this week’s harvest!
Recipes
Turnip Omelet (increase amount of turnips, as this week’s turnips are young and small)
Food notes
Be sure to use the greens on your root vegetables this week! Beet and turnip greens are tasty! The bug damage on the turnips is only on the surface, simply peel it away. Celery tops can be used too. They add flavor to soups, pilafs, and stock.